Trading Places
by Scifiction786
Summary: If you could take her place, would you? TATE. UPDATED FINALLY!
1. Chapter 1

Trading Places

Summary: "If you could take her place, would you?"

A/N: Hey, this is my first NCIS fanfic – TATE, of course. It's sort of an AU Twilight. I know there are a lot of post-Twilight fics out there, and I didn't think I would ever write one, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone. So, here it is…

"If you could take her place, would you?"

The question hung in the air barely a second before he answered firmly and confidently, "Yes."

It was a simple answer, but his tone conveyed the millions of emotions running through him. If he could take her place he would – in a heartbeat. Even practically speaking it would only make sense. She had so many people that cared about her. Not just him, but her family and friends. He remembered the procession for her funeral and how the line of cars had seemed endless. At the time, he had absently wondered how so many cars could fit on the tiny, narrow road that snaked through the graveyard. He had no idea Kate had so many friends, but it didn't surprise him. People would want to associate with someone like her. She was smart, beautiful, caring, strong – he could go on endlessly, but the fact was that she was amazingly unique and the world needed her.

"Why would the world need her and not you?"

His head snapped up and he stared into the crystal blue eyes of the stranger beside him. Had he said those things aloud?

"What?" It was the only thing he was able to utter. He knew for a fact that he had only been thinking those things – he hadn't said anything aloud. His gravelly voice was testament to the fact that he had barely said more than a word or two here or there since her funeral the day before.

"You heard what I said." The stranger replied calmly.

"But how –"

"First answer the question." The man's voice was firm, yet light at the same time. It had the effect of making Tony want to obey him.

"Well, because," he cleared his throat and thought about his answer for a moment. "Because she had so much to offer," he finished simply, knowing that he sounded cliché.

"And you don't." It was a statement, as if the man had said aloud what Tony left unspoken.

"It's not the same. There aren't that many people that would miss me, first of all. The only people that would really care if I was gone would be my co-workers," he paused for a beat, then, "and they'll get over it soon enough. They are trained to handle these things."

"But you are not." Again, the stranger voiced what Tony didn't.

And again, Tony was caught off guard, unable to find the words to describe what he was feeling.

"I – I," he stammered a moment. Then, he took a deep breath, "I can't live without her," he finished in a whisper. "I don't know how."

Tony absently thought it was strange that he was talking so openly to a man he didn't know at all. He was normally not one to share his feelings and thoughts with anyone. But there was something about the blue-eyed stranger that allowed him to put his guard down and share things that he had never shared with anyone else before. It was almost as if the man already knew what he was thinking. Maybe it was just the alcohol getting to him, but he felt as if the man already knew everything that Tony was telling him – as if he already knew his deepest thoughts.

The man simply dipped his head once in a curt nod. His eyes conveyed that he understood exactly how Tony felt about her.

They sat in companionable silence. The man sipped his water, seemingly deep in thought, while Tony finished yet another drink. He wasn't even sure what he was drinking at this point, nor did he care. As long as it was alcoholic and would help him forget, even for a little while, he would drink it.

"You two had a unique relationship." The man spoke abruptly, causing Tony to splash some of his drink. He wasn't sure if the man was asking him or telling him.

"Yeah, it was amazing," Tony replied wistfully, even though he wasn't really sure what _it_ was. He wasn't sure if the relationship they had shared could be categorized, or even described.

"But she didn't know." The man seemed to like talking in short, to-the-point sentences. Tony didn't mind, though. And despite his vagueness, Tony knew exactly what the man was referring to.

"No. I didn't – I couldn't tell her."

"Why not?"

Tony let out an exasperated sigh. He wasn't annoyed with the man, but with himself. The man seemed to understand that, as he simply waited quietly while Tony tried to collect his thoughts. He had a sort of hypnotizing effect on Tony. It never occurred to him that he could simply not answer the man. Instead, Tony struggled to find the most honest answer he could.

"I don't – I just –" Tony paused. He took a deep breath and let it all out again before he answered dejectedly, "Because she wouldn't want someone like me. I'm not good enough for her."

He paused again, but the man seemed to know that he had more to say and waited silently for Tony to continue.

"She was way too smart for me," Tony smirked humorlessly as he remembered how she always seemed to know things. "She would never let herself be outwitted by me. In fact, she always worked hard to make sure she did her best in whatever she did and she never let herself fail at anything," and Tony admired that so much about her. His eyes became unfocused as he continued to remember, "The things she did, the things she said – she was just so perfect. She has so much strength and she cares so much and she's so intelligent." He noted absently that he had begun to talk about her in the present tense at some point, but he didn't care. It hurt so much to talk about her as if she was gone. He knew she was gone, but he felt like a knife sliced through his heart every time he had to acknowledge it.

Again, there was silence. Tony was lost in remembrance, while the man seemingly tried to make a decision about something.

After some time, the man finally spoke. This time Tony was expecting it and cocked his head toward the man, though he continued to face forward, staring at the myriad of alcoholic beverage bottles displayed on the wall in front of him.

"Will you survive?" It was an odd question that the man posed.

Odder still was the fact that Tony silently contemplated the question for a few moments. He turned to look the man in the eye and the man followed suit. "I don't know." He stated quietly, letting his eyes convey the true answer – 'I don't think so.'

Again the man nodded once, seemingly coming to a decision. His eyes shifted to look past Tony, behind him, as if weighing the consequences of his decision. Then, he moved his gaze back to meet Tony's and simply stated, "I know."

At that moment, something passed between the two men – an understanding of some sort. While he couldn't describe what had happened, Tony suddenly knew that somehow, he had gotten a second chance. His eyes widened, and the man, for the first time in their entire conversation changed his expression, if only slightly. One corner of his mouth turned upward in a slight smirk and his bright blue eyes seemed to twinkle. Tony watched amazed. He knew but at the same time he didn't know what had happened. He did know that somehow, this stranger had allowed him a chance to make things right. He didn't know how or why, but at the moment, he didn't care.

"Thank you." Tony managed to utter, conveying most of his gratitude with his eyes.

The man gracefully slid off the barstool. With one hand he dropped an old-fashioned black hat onto his head that Tony hadn't noticed before, and brought the other hand out in front of him, as if to shake Tony's hand. Tony stared at the man a moment. Somehow he knew that when he shook the man's hand, things would change.

Giving the man one last grateful look, Tony stepped forward and grasped his hand in a firm handshake.

As soon as his hand was firmly in the grasp of the other man, Tony's world began to sway and shift. The bar around him blended and became a swirling mass of colors. He lost all sense of direction and he realized with a start that he was suddenly alone. The man was gone and Tony felt like he was suspended in the eye of a tornado, where, instead of wind, what swirled around him were colors – every imaginable color at that. He couldn't feel anything at all, not even his own body. There was no air, but he didn't need to breathe either.

'Am I dead?'

The thought suddenly occurred to him, yet it brought no panic. He was just calm and content where he was. If he was dead, then he supposed that Kate would be alive, and that would mean everything was right.

But just as he began to feel hypnotically content watching the swirling and pulsing colors, a harsh light began to cut through the warm atmosphere around him. The light dissolved the colors around it wherever it appeared; it was as if the light was burning holes into the beautiful canvas of colors that had been surrounding him. The numbness that had prevented him from feeling his own body was beginning to lift and he was slowly becoming aware of voices in the distance.

The first feeling that assaulted him as the numbness pulled farther and farther away was pain. His chest felt heavy and nearly every part of his body ached. As more awareness came, he realized that his eyes were open and he was staring at bright florescent lights attached to the ceiling. The surface he was lying on was cold and hard, but something soft had been placed under his head and neck.

The increased awareness of his surroundings also brought with it an increased awareness of the pain in his body, which caused him to let out an involuntary groan. Suddenly, the voices that had been steadily increasing in volume ceased. After a brief pause, he heard the sharp sound of heels on tile approaching him quickly. He didn't want to risk moving his neck to see who it was, since it already felt very sore. Besides, whoever it was would be in his line of sight any moment.

When the face finally did come into view, his breath caught and his eyes blurred. Directly above him was the worry-filled face of Kate Todd. The concern on her face only grew as she took in his expression, "Tony?"

"Kate," he managed to half-whisper, half-sob before the darkness that had been dancing around the edges of his vision finally overtook him.

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Ok, so I may continue with this story if you guys want me to. I already have most of a second chapter written. Otherwise, I'll leave it as it is - let me know what you want me to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Trading Places

Summary: "If you could take her place, would you?"

Disclaimer: Yeah, I forgot, I have to actually express the fact that I don't own the characters, etc. It should be obvious, since if I did own them, Kate would still be on the show (I don't care if Sasha wanted out…too bad for her) and there would be a LOT more TATE!

A/N: Wow! Thanks so much for all the great reviews! I really wasn't sure if I should continue or not, but you guys definitely made the decision for me. So, as per your requests, here is another chapter! And it's a lot sooner than I had planned on putting it up too…I was supposed to be studying for my last final! But I read your reviews and melted :)

Therefore, this chapter is dedicated to: harmsarah, JHsoccerchick, Princess-Rachy, BlueTigress, midnight-sk8r, pacificbluegirl, kap0w, Odakota, PKgirl, Emily, Hero, sorgenmond, Grainne, netty, and everyone else that reviewed!

Oh, btw, to those of you that asked about the blue-eyed stranger, I thought I'd leave his identity up to your imaginations…he's more mysterious that way ;)

On to the story! (finally…)

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" –n't worry. He's just unconscious and should be back with us any moment now."

"What about his other injuries? I mean, he had the plague, and I know his lungs haven't healed properly yet, and then this…" she trailed off.

Tony heard the end of the conversation as consciousness finally took hold of him again. Eyes still closed, he concentrated on figuring out who was there. The first voice was obviously male – one he hadn't heard before – speaking in a matter-of-fact way, which led him to deduce that it was either a doctor or a nurse, which meant that he was probably in a hospital. The second voice was definitely Kate's, and judging from the way she was rambling, she was either nervous or worried.

Wait a minute. Kate? Suddenly everything came back to him and he began to try to open his eyes with a renewed urgency.

After several attempts of trying and failing to keep his eyes open due to the intensely bright lights, he finally managed to open them and keep them that way. Rolling his head toward the direction where he heard the voices coming from, he noticed the doctor looking straight at him.

"Well, I think we can ask Mr. Dinnozzo any further questions we might have, seeing that he is now awake," the doctor said with a smile.

Kate, who had had her back to him abruptly spun around only to find to a pair of wide green eyes staring right back at her.

"Kate?" He whispered, still unconvinced that she was alive and well.

"Tony! How are you? Are you alright?" She rushed to his side and began firing the questions before either man had time to react. As she absently brushed her fingers over the newest bruise on his forehead, she continued in a softer voice, "Does it hurt?"

Tony was still mesmerized by the fact that Kate was alive. "Kate? You're alive."

Kate shot a questioning look at the doctor, who was still standing in the doorway, before she turned her concerned gaze back to Tony.

"Of course I'm alive, Tony. Well, thanks to you, anyway. If you hadn't noticed that bomb, we probably wouldn't be here right now."

She paused for a beat, then continued again, her voice barely containing her concern for him, "And what possessed you to go and play hero like that, huh Tony? You haven't even properly recovered from the plague, and you decide that you're in proper shape to outrun a bomb?" Her concern had turned to exasperation as she finished her small tirade, causing her voice to steadily rise in volume.

"Bomb?" Tony replied in a dumbstruck tone. Slowly the pieces began falling into place. He went back in time?

At that moment, the doctor came forward, while Kate shot him an anxious look.

"Mr. Dinnozzo, do you remember how you got here? Do you remember what happened?"

The worry in Kate's eyes had increased, as she stared wide-eyed at Tony. She was not expecting memory loss.

"Uh…" Tony tried to bring back the memories from that day, but he didn't remember going to the hospital. In truth, much of the time that surrounded the events that had unfolded on the rooftop had become blurry memories at best. He did remember the bomb on the car, having spotted it just before McGee turned the lock, but after that he thought he had just gone back to NCIS headquarters.

Both Kate and the doctor were still waiting for an answer, so he told them what he remembered about the bomb. He was careful to leave out any mention of what happened next, saying simply that he didn't remember anything after the explosion until he woke up here just moments ago.

"Well, I'm sure that Agent Todd will be able to fill you in on those details. You seem to be doing fine right now. You've got some bruises from the explosion, so you will be sore for a while. Also, you do have a mild concussion, so make sure that someone stays with you tonight. They should try to wake you every half hour or so, and if you don't wake up, they need to call an ambulance right away. Alright?"

At Tony's nod, the doctor finished, "Good. Otherwise, you seem to be fine. I'll have a nurse get the discharge papers ready. You should be ready to go in a couple of hours – just try to get some rest in the meantime."

Kate thanked the doctor, while Tony simply nodded at him.

As he opened the door, the doctor turned and added, "By the way, Agent Dinnozzo, you shouldn't be back at work for at least two or three days. I would suggest taking the rest of the week off." With that, he finally left the room, leaving Kate and Tony alone together.

"So, care to fill in the gaps, Kate?" Tony said lightly, though his emotions were running wild. He kept his gaze locked on her, afraid that she would vanish if he let her out of his sight. He knew it was crazy to think so, but he had apparently just gone back in time, so he really didn't know what to think anymore.

Kate sat down in a chair that had been pulled up to the bed.

"Well, we just went back to headquarters and Ducky and I practically dragged you down to the morgue so that Ducky could check you out to make sure everything was alright. Ducky made you sit on one of the metal autopsy tables and began to do a check up on you, but halfway through, you just fainted."

She began to fidget with her hands, her eyes staring unfocused at the small plastic hospital band on his wrist, as she recalled the events that had led them here. "Ducky said that you probably just lost consciousness because you had been through a lot, so we laid you down on the table properly and waited for you to wake up. And you did."

Kate paused at this point and took a deep breath, shifting her gaze to meet Tony's.

"Tony, you looked at me like you had seen a ghost when you woke up. You just – you got so…I don't even know how to describe the look you gave me." She looked intently at him, her eyes questioning.

He didn't say anything for a moment. He clearly remembered the pure shock and relief he had felt when he saw Kate's face hovering above him. He was still feeling some of that shock and relief now. The image of her lying on the rooftop, lifeless flashed in front of his eyes and he had to fight hard to keep the flood of emotions from showing. He had to remind himself that she was here, sitting right next to him, alive and well.

But he wasn't sure if he should tell Kate what he had experienced. How could he tell her that he had already lived this day, although a little differently? How could he tell her that she had died and he had somehow gotten a second chance – a chance to change what had happened? She would probably think he had gone crazy; even he felt like he had gone crazy just thinking about it.

He simply looked at her and she seemed to understand somehow that he didn't want to talk about it. So, she just continued telling him what had happened, as if there had been no pause.

"Then, you passed out again. We got worried and decided to take you to the hospital. Gibbs told me to stay with you, and since then, we've just been waiting for you to wake up."

"We?" Tony questioned.

"Well, I'm supposed to call Gibbs and everyone else when you wake up. Speaking of which…" she held up her cell phone as she stood from the chair.

Tony simply stared at her. His eyes felt heavy, but he _needed_ to keep an eye on Kate. She couldn't leave him again because as miraculous as this was, he knew there would be no way to change things if _it_ happened again. That scared him more than anything. This time he knew what was going to happen, and he had to find a way to protect her. He couldn't let her down again.

Kate seemed to understand that he didn't want her to leave. She moved closer to the bed and squeezed his hand reassuringly, "I'll be right back, Tony. I'm going to be right outside, in the hallway." She let go of his hand and walked toward the door, "Try to get some rest."

Tony sighed as he let his heavy eyelids drift shut. He couldn't figure out what was making him so sleepy. Hadn't he just woken up after passing out twice? _Must be the drugs_.

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Ok, so, I'm not really that pleased with this chapter. I don't know – I just don't like it as much as the first one.

Now, again, I'm not sure if I should continue. I do have part of the next chapter written, but I'm not really sure where I should take this.

So, should I continue or should I let you all decide how things end up between Kate and Tony? And if I do continue, any suggestions on where I should go with it?

Review to let me know!


	3. Chapter 3

Trading Places

Summary: "If you could take her place, would you?"

A/N: THANK YOU sooo much for the reviews! Sorry it took so long to update, but I was really confused about where to go with this.I didn't think the last chapter was very good but reading your reviews really helped me continue the story. I think I have more of a focus now. This chapter doesn't have a lot happening in it - just Kate's perspective and musings, but I think it was needed, since we don't really know what Kate's thinking yet.

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The call she had made to Gibbs went as expected. He had picked up on the second ring, greeting her in the clipped, professional manner that was characteristic of him, though she had detected the slight concern in his voice when he asked how Tony was. She relayed what the doctor had told her, and exactly thirty seconds later, she ended the call with instructions to stay with Tony and keep her cell phone on in case they needed her. Dropping the phone back into her purse, she walked back down the hallway toward Tony's room.

Entering the room, she noticed that he had fallen asleep. Which, judging by the sheer exhaustion she had seen on his face before she left, was a good thing. Walking to his bed, she eyed the chair that she had pulled to sit next the bed earlier that day. In the end, though, she opted to remain standing over him.

Now that she was alone with him, she could really study him. She watched him as he slept. He looked so innocent and peaceful when he was sleeping, she couldn't stop a gentle smile from forming on her lips. The knot that had formed in her stomach began to ease with the knowledge that he really was okay, and she took a deep breath to chase away the fears that had been plaguing her since the explosion. He was here; he was safe now.

Her hand moved of it's own will, brushing aside the dark hair that had fallen onto his forehead. She closed her eyes as the reality of the danger he had been in hit her. Everything had been happening so quickly that day, she hadn't had a chance to consider how close she had come to losing him…again.

As she stood, absently stroking his forehead with her thumb, her thoughts turned to their relationship. It was not one that she could define if she tried. When he had the plague, she began to realize that her feelings for him ran deeper than she had previously thought. Yet, she was not sure just how deep. She did know, however, that she couldn't lose him. His repeated near-death experiences had left her without sleep on more than one night. The anxiety and worry of loosing him would keep her up all night, but she wasn't sure what it all meant. This was their job. It was dangerous, and both of them knew that when they took it.

She knew that what she felt for him was more than a partner should feel. She had been in the secret service before, so she knew first hand what kind of bond was formed when there was a constant threat of death. It was a strong bond, but with that bond came an acceptance that the person could go at any moment. That was not what she felt for Tony. She truly feared for his well-being and his life – more than her own. And that scared her. She had never felt that way about anyone before.

She had told him before that he was like a brother to her. At the time, his childish charm and constant energy had appealed to her but she reasoned that the attraction was more like that of a sister to a younger brother. Although, even then, she wasn't sure how her physical attraction to him would factor in. Now, however, she realized that her feelings went far beyond physical attraction or brotherly love. Still, she was not prepared to admit that she wanted their relationship to move forward. She needed to understand her feelings, which meant that she needed time. The last thing she wanted to do was act impulsively, and she knew that, for the moment, her concern for him was throwing her emotions off.

His head shifted slightly under her hand, bringing her out of her thoughts. As his eyes fluttered open, she realized that she half expected him to be shocked by her presence as he had been the last two times he had opened his eyes. That had both puzzled and troubled her more than anything. But when his eyes finally found hers, she saw only relief in them. He smiled at her lazily, while his hand moved to grip hers.

"Hey, Kate." He said simply, still holding her gaze.

Unable to move her eyes away from his, she smiled back, though her confusion only increased. She thought that he had been acting differently when he had woken up before, but she had convinced herself that she was just imagining things. Now she wasn't so sure.

Mentally shaking her head, she decided to drop it. After all, she had been acting differently toward him too. She had never before shown concern for him the way she had been.

Unsure of what to say next, she was thankful when the nurse chose that moment to walk into the room.

"Okay, Mr. Dinnozzo, you are ready to go." She walked into the room, shuffling through the papers in her hand. Looking up, she addressed Kate, "Will you be staying with him?"

"Yes." She noticed Tony's surprised look and added, "Boss's orders."

"Right. Well, here is the prescription for the painkillers. And make sure that you check on him every half hour when he goes to sleep over the next twenty-four hours." The nurse handed her the papers that were in her hands and turned her attention to Tony, who had been silently watching the exchange.

"And you, Mr. Dinnozzo, need to take it easy. No strenuous activities for the next few days."

"Got it. Thanks," Tony replied simply.

Kate turned slightly away from the nurse, to face him. She had been fully expecting some kind of comment or joke from him – the nurse had left herself wide open to it. Yet, he had responded quietly and appropriately. Those were two things that she never thought she would associate with Tony. She wanted to believe that his subdued behavior was the result of the drugs still running through his system, but somehow, again, she felt that something had changed. He had changed.

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So, what do you think? I'm thinking about continuing a gradual pace for this story for now...do you think I should? Or would you rather have faster pace - more action and stuff?

Review to let me know!


	4. Chapter 4

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Trading Places

Summary: "If you could take her place, would you?"

A/N: I REALLY appreciate the reviews! Those are what got me to finally post this up. I know it's been a looong time, but I've had a serious case of writer's block with this story. Any suggestions on where this should go are definately welcome. I'm wavering between having this really focus on the thoughts and emotions of the characters or making it an action/drama type of thing like the show. For now, I'm going with the thoughts and emotions, so that's what these two chapters are. It's basically the same situation from both of their perspectives.

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His gaze shifted toward her desk yet again. She was still as focused on typing her report as she had been two seconds ago when he last checked. He, on the other hand, was surprised he hadn't sky rocketed out of his chair yet, with all the nervous energy in him.

While his eyes kept darting toward her desk, lest she suddenly vanish from his sight, his hands were busy multitasking between fumbling with paperclips, popping up his email window and then minimizing it again without looking, opening and closing his stationary drawer, and any other task his hands could mindlessly perform without his eyes.

Ever since they had left the hospital, he had been like a 5-year old on speed. He was hypersensitive to anything she did – every movement, every sound. At first, they had gone to his house, where she thought she could leave him to rest. Of course, that was not happening. The only thing that kept running through his mind was that moment on the rooftop: the bullet…her blood on his face. It was all he could think about – that and how to keep it from happening again. On top of that, apparently this timeline had shifted because of his trip to the hospital and he had no idea how that would effect the day's events. So far, since he had woken up in the hospital, nothing had gone the way it had the first time.

When Kate had finally realized that he was not going to rest, she decided to get him something to eat – while he stayed home. Again he protested long and hard until she finally gave up, exasperated, and asked what he wanted to do. Finally having the opportunity he was looking for, he promptly suggested that they go to NCIS. She could finish her paperwork and he could sit quietly at his desk and play games or relax some other way, he reasoned. And of course, she would be in a secure building, which would help keep his sanity intact just a little longer. After a bit of hesitation, her desire to get some of her piling paperwork out of the way finally won over, and after making it clear that he was not to engage in any work related activity while he was there, they finally made it to the bullpen. Which brought him to his current state.

A sudden pain shot through his finger, which made him yelp both in surprise and pain, causing Kate to finally look up and notice him. His hands had apparently decided to play with the stapler on his desk and tried to staple his finger. A tiny drop of bright red blood appeared on his index finger just as Kate came to stand in front of his desk.

"What happened?" The concern was apparent in her eyes.

"Uhh…" Unable to find the words to explain to her what had happened without embarrassing himself, he sheepishly held out his index finger for her to see, then looked down at the stapler that was sitting on the desk in front of him.

The look of concern in her eyes first turned to puzzlement, then to one of mirth. Her eyes crinkled and she shook as she tried to stifle her laughter. But for all her effort, she just couldn't contain it and soon enough, the sound of her laughter was echoing throughout the empty bullpen.

Though his cheeks were bright red by now from embarrassment, he couldn't keep a gigantic smile from appearing on his face. Her laughter was the most amazing sound he had ever heard and at that moment, he decided he would do anything to hear that laugh again – even if it was at his own expense.

He continued to stare at her, fascinated, while she tried in vain to compose herself. Her eyes were watering from laughing so hard, and her cheeks and nose had turned red. Laughter lines had appeared around her eyes that he had never noticed before, but that made her look all the more beautiful in that moment.

"I – I'm sorry," more laughter, "I don't," some tears slipped down her cheeks and she tried to clamp her mouth shut to keep from laughing anymore. "I don't know why I'm laughing so hard." She giggled. Kate Todd _giggled_.

He couldn't control himself anymore. He stood, leaned over his desk, and gently kissed her sealed lips in one swift movement. The giggles stopped abruptly and her eyes widened as shock registered on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

Trading Places

Summary: "If you could take her place, would you?"

A/N: Ok, this is the same situation, but from Kate's perspective because I think it's important to know what she's thinking at this point.

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She was typing her report as quickly as she could, concentrating all of her effort into getting it done before the man sitting across from her exploded. Although she had successfully tuned his fidgeting out by now, she could practically feel the energy radiating off of Tony. He wasn't allowed to do work work, and he apparently hadn't found anything else to do that would occupy his attention while she finished her report. But at least he had been quiet – uncharacteristically so, in fact. Therefore, when she heard his sudden yelp, she nearly jumped out of her chair.

She stood and quickly walked to his desk to see what had happened. He had been staring at his hand, but looked up at her when she came to stand in front of his desk.

"What happened?" She had to ask, when refused to volunteer information. Instead of answering, he stuck his finger out, apparently showing her something. He seemed…embarrassed.

Tearing her eyes away from his, she looked at his finger. The little red dot of blood confused her for a moment. When she looked back at him for clarification, he was staring at the stapler that sat in the middle of his desk, and suddenly she understood. He looked back up at her with a look that only he could pull off, and though she didn't want to embarrass him further, she couldn't resist the laughter that began to bubble up inside her.

At first, she tried to contain it, but quickly gave up and began to laugh wholeheartedly. It wasn't the situation he had found himself in, but the expression on his face that caused her to finally loose control. His eyes were big and bright, and full of embarrassment as he looked up at her from his seated position; his eyebrows were furrowed together, while his cheeks had turned red, and he seemed to be fully anticipating a whack on the back of his head from the way he had tilted it slightly away from her. And his arm was sill sticking out in front of him, presenting his finger to her for inspection. In all, he looked like a five-year old whose pride had just been wounded along with his finger.

She tried to pull herself together as she watched his cheeks and the tip of his nose turn redder, but she just couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it was the stress of the past few days, or weeks. Maybe it was the relief that he was really ok after knocking on death's door more than once in such a short period of time. Maybe it was just the fact that he looked absolutely adorable. Or maybe it was a combination of all of those things, plus the fact that she hadn't laughed in such a long time, especially not uncontrollably like this.

The unsure smile that had been playing on his lips had turned into a full-fledged DiNozzo smile by now, albeit a slightly embarrassed one.

"I – I'm sorry," she tried, but failed, to settle herself, "I don't," she could barely speak through her chortling. She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath to calm herself. "I don't know why I'm laughing so hard." She finally managed to stop laughing. And then she giggled.

Before she could say anything, Tony's lips were on hers. Her eyes widened in surprise. The shock of the action put an abrupt stop to her laughing spell and caused all activity in her brain to come to a grinding halt.

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Hmm...what now? Please review and give me some suggestions. I've got a very vague idea of where this should go, but I'd like to know what you think. I don't really know if these last two chapters really fit in with the story - that's why I hadn't posted them up, even though I had written them a while ago. But, I thought it would be better than nothing. Anyway, let me know what your thoughts are - I would really appreciate the feedback. Thanks!


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